Reasons not to be Christian?

Question

Ok, somebody pissed me off and said there are no reasons to not be a Christian presented here, so here I go.

1.Crusades
2. Persecution of the Jews
3. Persecution of Gays
4. Holocaust
5. No scientific evidence backing up the New Testament
6. Most Christians act like hypocrites
7. 1/5 of the worlds population is Christian, nearly all from brainwashing and illiteracy
8. Belief that the world is not worth saving since it is going to end soon
9. Hell contradicts an all loving God
10. Biblical contradictions written by the same author
11. Many teachings of the Bible are ignored, even when you say it is the infallible word of God
12. Holds back science, and in turn holds back humanity
13. Believes the world is actually 6000 years old and this infinitely large universe with an infinite amount of stars and planets was made for us
14. I will write more later.

15. Most Christians have never even read the book they put so much trust into.

Redfernkitty, are you ******* stupid? ISREAL IS JEWISH! and yes, Christianity HAS persecuted Jews all throughout history, in Europe they were blamed for the plague. Tens of thousands were killed in that incident. Just look a little harder and you will see more of it.

Answer 1

Lets see #2, #4, #5, #7, #9, #10, and #15 are all wrong. Try again.

Making your own opinions read like truth doesnt help. From your psot, you have not read the Bible, a history book, a census report, or even met a TRUE Christian, so try again, but I doubt youll succeed.

Answer 2

Reasons to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses (a Christian):

1. Jehovah's Witnesses didn't participate in the Crusades and they don't get involved in wars or political matters.
2. Jehovah's Witnesses don't persecute anyone...they're usually on the receiving end of persecution.
3. Although JWs follow the Bible's teaching that following a gay lifestyle is not acceptable to God, they don't persecute people who choose that lifestyle.
4. Many people don't realize it, but JWs were also persecuted during the Holocaust...the vast majority who were in concentration camps held firmly to their beliefs despite the fact that they could have been released if they signed a statement disowning their faith.
5. I'm not sure what specifically you're asking, but if you'll provide specifics, I'll see if I can give you an answer.
6. Most PEOPLE act like hypcrites...but most JWs try very hard to live up to the standards set out in the Bible and to follow closely in Christ's footsteps. Granted, there are some Witnesses who have grown tired of living up to their dedication to God because it isn't the easiest life to live, some have decided they'd rather be pursuing the things everyone in else is pursuing (money, material things, etc). But those are the ones that usually 'fall away' from the teachings and go their own way.
7. Most JWs do a great deal of research into their chosen faith as well as the faiths of others, realizing how important it is to know what you're talking about when you show up on someone's doorstep and and they say "I'm a [insert your faith here]."
8. Per God, the earth itself will not be destroyed...he made it to be inhabited. The 'world' of ungodly people however, will be done away with. Those not wanting to live by God's standards can use the free will that God gave them to choose not to. Those who DO want to will have to endure the ridicule of others and the world's badness until God's appointed time to take care of the matter.
9. The word 'hell' actually means 'to cover over'. Basically stated, hell isn't a place where people are tormented...its just the grave. JWs don't believe in a fiery hell and the scriptures don't support it.
10. Each time I thought I found a scripture that was contradictory, I did some research and found that wasn't actually the case. You just have to learn how to research well.
11. JWs try really hard to live their lives by the teachings of the Bible. Granted, we're all imperfect and so no one is going to be able to perfectly follow everything. The point is to give your best in trying to do so.
12. JWs realize that the Bible and science actually work very well together. Science has proven quite a few things written in the Bible the people didn't think were true.
13. JWs believe the mankind itself is about 6,000 years old. As for the world, it could have been around for MUCH longer.
14. I will look forward to reading what you write later.

Answer 3

Hmmm...you are more than welcome to your views and rants...but you might make a more compelling argument if you actually knew what you were talking about.

Here are a couple of examples:

1. The Crusades BEGAN by Muslims conquering north Africa and pushing their way halfway through France...the 'Christian' west was simply responding to Muslim aggression

2. Christians are generally supportive of Jews...it's the evil Christian right wing that supports Israel

3. Persecution of gays...persecution is a bit extreme isn't it...discriminated...yes...but that does not come exclusively from Christians...just because a Christian professes that homosexuality is wrong does not mean they are persecuting them

4. You have seriously got to be kidding me. If you think that Nazism was CHRISTIAN-you really need to get a clue...it was a separate religious dogma in of itself

5. There is much archeological (you do consider this science, right?) evidence to many of the events told about in both the Old and New Testaments.

6. Most PEOPLE act like hypocrites...why are you singling out Christians-there are a lot worse hypocrites out there than Christians...oh, like say, left wing fanatics who claim they want diversity and tolerance for all people but as soon as a Christian opens up his mouth they start singing a different tune.

7. The irony is...this here statement you made about brainwashing and illiteracy is probably the product of brainwashing

8. Ok, how many non-Christian organizations versus Christian organizations are out there in the trenches performing humanitarian aide?

9. You misunderstand the concept of hell. Hell is an eternity without God...it's not a place that he sends one to...one chooses it...God made it very simple to enter the kingdom of heaven, simply accept, believe and obey.

10. Again, you misunderstand the Bible...have you even read the whole thing?

11. Ok...you have a point here...many teachings are ignored by Christians when they shouldn't be. BUt you know...if everyone followed the basic premis of Christ's message (love your enemies, love your neighbor as yourself),,,then we wouldn't have all the problems in the world that we have

12. Holds back science? How? By challenging the unproved tenents of the evolution theory?

blah, blah, blah...

Answer 4

Let me start off by telling you that I am not, even slightly, a Christian. However, I have a problem with your prejudices. Christianity in itself is an amazingly spiritual and tolerant belief system. The reasons that you site for not being a Christian are accurate historically but go against the idea of the religion itself. A couple things to remember: the bible was written by man, not God. Thus, it is fallible and subjected to the prejudices of the people that wrote it as well as the people that read it in their own interpretation (or the interpretation that they have been taught). Secondly, you seem to believe (forgive me if I am reading too much into your note) that this is the only religion that is used as an excuse for war, power, persecusion, and murder. All religions, unfortunatly, have the same history in that respect. Not okaying it, just stating that your narrow view of the worlds religions have blinded you into seeing Christianity as the "bad guy" when in all reality all religions have the same history because it is the followers that are corrupt, not the religion itself.

Answer 5

Well are you done yet?.....
Whew, okay here is my thoughts on what you said....
Just like everything else in life, if you really look hard enough, you will find something not right and or contradictory about everything. that is what faith is about.

And to answer #12, science gets to much money from the government to find ways to solve all of mankinds problems as it is and obviously they aren't doing that great of a job now are they,

and if more people lived as the Bible teaches we wouldn't have broken homes, lives and turmoil. think about it.
It is just a shame that you feel that you have to put everyone in the same basket,
If I were to base my opinions of Athiests off of this site I would think you all are a bunch of A holes with nothing nice to say about anyone. now how fair is that? Hmmmmmm

Answer 6

i'm sorry you feel this way..actually the world is about 1/3 Christian. The crusades were started in retaliation the the MUSLIMS conquests. Hitlers was a extremist Fanatic..you shouldn't undermine a whole religion because of some bad people. No scientific evidence supporting N.T>>> hundreds of witnesses saw the risen Christ> the ressurection is a IMPORTANT part in history that has been researched so much and they conclude on a resurrection> please have respect. peace.

Answer 7

Wow, you have a pretty interesting list! I would like to ask, have you tried researching your list in the Bible. You seem to believe that you know how Christians think, therefore have you asked yourself why? The only thing that we can do as Christians is believe the words in the Bible and act upon them. If that includes items off your list, then so-be-it. Did you know that the Bible says that we have to answer for everything we do? We are not perfect? If someone looks for Christians to be perfect, they will be in for a shock! We can only speak and act on the things we believe and if we find out in our reading and studying that we are doing something wrong, we are suppose to make corrections! The one good thing is that we only have to answer to GOD, no one else....so from this, it really doesn't matter what anyone else thinks as long as we continue to build our relationship with GOD. There is a saying.....I would rather live my life as if there was a God and die to find out there isn't...than to live my life as if there isn't a God and die to find out there is!

Answer 8

I don't know if this answers your question or not, but one of the main reasons that I believe in Christianity is that the people who knew Jesus were willing to be tortured to death rather than change their story that they saw Jesus return from the dead.

If the apostles were lying about seeing the resurrected Christ, then why didn't they take back their story when they were individually being tortured to death? Every one of the apostles (Except John, who died a natural death in exile on Patmos), were killed for their faith. Wouldn't a liar recant this story to save his own life?

What did the apostles have to gain by making it all up? What good does fame do for a dead person?

I accept the apostles' story because the witnesses were creditable.

PS: Yes, I have heard the crack about suicide bombers, but the main difference between the modern bombers & the apostles are: (1) the bombers did not see Mommand personally, so they are not eye-witnesses to anything (Unlike Peter, & Paul, who claimed to see Jesus alive with their own eyes and then died rather than take it back); and, (2) the bombers are killing innocent people (others) for their faith, not suffering for it (I assume that blowing yourself up is quick & painless compared with being crucified.).

Answer 9

hmmm.. no.. none of those are reasons not to be a Christian. This world was created for us to receive a body and to be tested to see if we would do all tha God commands us to do.

So far, the only one to succeed in that is Jesus Christ, our savior. Jesus promised God the Father and US that he would sacrifice himself for our weaknesses... and he has done so. After all that we can do... it is still by the grace of the Lord that we will return to Heaven to live with God and Jesus.

If you go to Church (a Christian Church), think of it more as a hospital emergency room than a building full of perfect people. We are not perfect. Some of us are farther from it than others... but we are trying.

Good people have done bad things for the wrong reasons many times in history... I do not believe they were following Jesus at the time.

Answer 10

I would categorize these as reasons to not be religious since all religions fit into this category... but if you have to choose a religion, might as well be Christian... countries founded by Christian forefathers are the ones where today you find the most tolerance... try being a Jew or gay in Iran or Afghanistan!